gal·ax·y

galaxy

a collection of billions of stars and other matter held together by gravity. Our planet Earth and the sun belong to the Milky Way galaxy. They are only tiny parts of this galaxy.

A telescope helps us see other galaxies from Earth.

Word History

The word galaxy comes galaktos, an ancient Greek word that means "milk." The Latin word for "milk", lac, also came from this Greek word. The Latin phrase via lactea, or "the Milky Way," is where the name of Earth's galaxy comes from.